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mimicteruyo · 9 months

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The Reversal

[Touhou Ship Week Day 1: Confession. Kogasa/Sekibanki, 1.3k words]

"Married?"

Kogasa nodded vigorously. "That's what she told me. They're doing it next month!"

"It's the first I've heard of it." Sekibanki turned back towards the door and pulled on her second boot. "Who around here officiates weddings for youkai? Are they having it at Myouren Temple?"

"At Misty Lake. I don't think it's an official thing." Kogasa tried not to hover, but it was hard not to when every fibre in her body brimmed with nervous energy. "Wakasagihime said they just want to celebrate how much they love each other. We're both invited if you want to go."

She hoped Sekibanki couldn't hear her heart thumping in her chest as she waited for a response. This was the critical point. There were several different ways in which Sekibanki might respond, and some of them meant Kogasa would never bring the subject matter up again. Well, maybe not never, but she would have to wait for some years at least.

Fortunately, Sekibanki's shrug was of the casual sort. "Why not?" Her boots now firmly on her feet, she stood up and glanced over her shoulder at Kogasa. "I don't really see the point of it, but I don't mind it either. See you later."

Kogasa's heart was pounding so wildly she almost missed her cue. "Have a good day!"

She continued to quietly vibrate in place for a long while after Sekibanki was gone.

Two weeks later, Kogasa walked back home through the Human Village while humming a tune to herself, her arm around a bag of groceries. She would usually have been at her forge at this hour, but if she followed a routine too closely, she would become predictable, and so she had instead done some bartering in the village for some lovely soup ingredients for her and Sekibanki.

She slowed down as their home came to view. Whenever her thoughts reached Sekibanki, they anchored themselves there, and she suddenly found it nigh impossible to think of anything but Sekibanki's blunt but considerate demeanour, the warmth of her rare smiles, and Kogasa's own increasingly elaborate dreams for a shared future with her.

How long should she wait to pop the question after bringing up the subject of marriage in the first place? Would a few weeks be enough for it to be a surprise, or should she allow months to pass first? Waiting for more than a year would be torture, but at least then she could almost guarantee Sekibanki's jaw would drop at the proposal.

She tried not to sigh as she gave a tiny wave at her neighbours. Maybe she shouldn't have brought up the subject at all. But then, the mere thought of proposing to Sekibanki only to discover she was virulently hostile towards the very concept of marriage made her blood turn to ice.

She suppressed a shudder as she opened the door. No. If Sekibanki really hated the idea, she would have made it known. That meant there was a chance. Kogasa just needed to find the right time to ask. "I'm home!"

"Welcome back." Sekibanki briefly turned her head to frown at Kogasa. "How many spring onions did you get?"

"Guess!" Kogasa set the groceries with their abundance of spring onions on the table, then straightened up, curious. For whatever reason, Sekibanki was crouched down facing a wall. "What's going on?"

"I think there's a mouse hole here."

"Huh?" Kogasa walked over to crouch down next to Sekibanki. "Do you think it's a problem?"

She scanned the wall. No matter how hard she peered at it, the small hole she was meant to see refused to make itself manifest. "Um. Where is it?"

Sekibanki jerked her head to the side just as she often did when she was about to wake up. "...Must have been a trick of the light."

"That's a relief." Kogasa bounced back to her feet. "I'll get started on—"

"Hold on. There's something else."

"Oh." Kogasa crouched back down, whispering conspiratorially just for the fun of it. "What it is?"

Without another word, Sekibanki raised her fist, which had until then rested on her knee, and rotated it until her fingers were turned towards the ceiling. She opened it.

A thin band of gleaming metal with a turquoise stone caught all the scant light in the room.

Kogasa stared at the ring, then at Sekibanki. She felt as though she should have been able to put the pieces together, but her mind drew a blank.

Sekibanki's expression remained passive even as she spoke in a very deliberate tone. "Kogasa Tatara, will you marry me?"

Kogasa crossed her hands over her mouth.

After several long moments — through which Sekibanki waited silently — Kogasa managed to drag her fingers from her face and her initial sensation of being struck by a thunderbolt made of sugar ebbed enough to allow other emotions in. Even then, she could only make sense of feelings that were at least cousins to astonishment. "Am I dreaming?"

"Want to get pinched for proof?"

Kogasa pinched herself instead. The sting of it felt real enough, and Sekibanki was still there. As was the ring. As were the echoes of the question.

"Yes," she finally responded, still feeling like she had wandered into a wonderful dream. "Yes, of course! But how did you..."

"Know to ask?" Sekibanki raised an eyebrow. "You were almost subtle about it, but I also know you pretty well by now. The look on your face didn't make sense if the whole thing had been just about a wedding invitation."

"I... still didn't think you would..."

"Care enough to propose?" Sekibanki looked down at the ring still on her palm. "I'm not gonna lie and say I would've thought of it if you hadn't brought it up first. Still, I already knew that if I ever wanted to marry anyone, it was you."

Kogasa couldn't help but sniffle as a swell of emotion nearly blinded her. "I love you, Sekibanki."

Warmth splashed in Sekibanki's eyes. "Likewise." She held the ring up. "Want to try it on?"

Holding back both sobs of joy and amazed laughter, Kogasa offered her hand and held her breath as Sekibanki slid the ring onto her index finger.

"Feel free to put it in another finger," Sekibanki said as she straightened her back to shrug. "I have no idea which one it's supposed to go on."

"I don't either." It seemed perfect exactly where it was, however. Kogasa stared at the ring, wondering where Sekibanki had scrounged it up from, when a sudden thought made her jerk her head up. "Wait. Shouldn't you have a ring too?"

"Maybe. Do you happen to know any blacksmiths who could make that happen?"

The giggles Kogasa had been holding back now burst free. "You won't believe it when you see it!"

"No doubt." Sekibanki's small grin tugged the left side of her face ever so slightly higher than the right. "Look at me successfully surprising the master of surprises."

This was usually the cue for Kogasa to pretend she was indignant, but she couldn't dim the smile on her face even a little. "That's not surprising. You've learned from the best."

"Fair enough."

Still beaming, Kogasa threw her arms around Sekibanki's neck and leaned in to kiss her. As soon as it broke, another joyful thought sprung up in her mind. "Now we get to plan a wedding!"

"Oh. Right."

Kogasa grinned and leaned her face against Sekibanki's. "We'll make it fun."

She could feel Sekibanki's face rearrange itself back into a smile against her cheek. "I know."

It was easy for Kogasa to slide into a second kiss, hoping to preserve Sekibanki's smile with it for as long as possible. Even as it faded, she knew they would share a future of endless hope together.

#thshipweek #mimic fics #kogabanki #was i writing this for day 6 only to have another idea that could only go on that day?#you know it

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netmomplus · 1 year

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“Picnics Aren’t Supposed to Go Like This” - Touhou Secret Santa 2022

Hi there @axcicos, I’m your @touhousecretsanta this year. I ended up writing a story, it’s mostly Kogaban/Kogabanki but features Koishi in an important role. I’ve never written Koishi before, but she seems really fun so I wanted to try it out, and hopefully you like it. ~~~ There was a place not too far from the Human Village where one could go to get just as much privacy as they could ever want. It was somewhere between the village itself and the Forest of Magic, and its proximity to the latter made most humans too fearful to venture too close. After all, dangerous monsters were said to lurk in those woods, and one false move could cause one to vanish as if they never existed. For a couple of youkai, however, it wasn’t an issue at all, especially since youkai didn’t typically eat each other. At least, one would think.

Case in point, said “couple of youkai” had decided to use this spot as a private place for picnics and such. It being a comfortably warm summer day especially made this a perfect spot to enjoy a bit of privacy. One was carrying the food in wicker baskets purchased from a store in the Human Village, while the other carried tea for the both of them. Conveniently for the tea carrier, she had a couple extra helping hands – or really heads – to assist in the endeavor.

“Kogasa,” complained the aforementioned youkai, one Sekibanki. “Can you please tell me why you chose literally right outside the village for our date?”

“Banki, I thought I made it really clear,” Kogasa responded, “it’s isolated, but it’s also outdoors. I specifically chose this spot because no one ever comes around here, you told me that was your only real criteria. Aren’t you tired of having all our dates in the back of my smithy?”

“Not really, it’s quiet there. And no humans can see us. That’s why I like it so much.”

“Banki, you sure complain a lot…”

With a sigh, Kogasa stopped at a point. There was enough space for the both of them to sit down with all of their stuff. Reaching into a basket, she pulled out a blanket and spread it out onto the ground below. She would then kneel down onto the blanket and place down the baskets, beckoning Sekibanki to do the same with the tea. Thankfully, Banki didn’t make much of a fuss as she did so.

“Thank you, Banki. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Kogasa looked down at the umbrella she was carrying. She scratched her head when she noticed the geta it was wearing… did she always have a geta there? She wondered if that would make sticking the umbrella into the blanket as a makeshift parasol more awkward, but she might as well give it a try anyway. Given that the umbrella was the other half of her being, she didn’t want to break anything, so after a deep breath, she shifted her hands along its shaft, hoping to get a good angle. She then lifted her hands in preparation, before thrusting them downward, and…

Voila! The umbrella was perfectly stuck right in the middle of the blanket. She gave a small clap in triumph, prompting Sekibanki to give a soft smirk in response.

“Bravo,” Sekibanki commented. “You stuck yourself into some dirt. Maybe you’ll grow leaves if we leave you for too long.”

“Hah, very funny. Imagine if we stuck one of your heads in the dirt. They don’t need to breathe, so they’d be fine. Do you think we’d get a tree of Bankis eventually?”

In response, Banki could only shrug.

“Me’s a crowd, Kogasa, what can I say-”

“Haha, yep, more than one of any person at any given time would be pretty weird.”

Both partners were greeted with the sound of a voice that neither recognized. Freezing up, they kept looking around, only to not see whoever the voice was coming from. At first both suspected it was the other trying to play a prank on them, but no, that voice was definitely too young and innocent sounding for either of them to pull off. Kogasa pulled her umbrella out from the blanket, while Sekibanki nabbed one of her spare heads and prepared to chuck it at whoever the voice belonged to.

“...whoever this is,” Sekibanki threatened, “if you don’t show up right now, I’m throwing this severed head at you.”

It did not take long for them to get a response.

“Well that’s just gross. Fine, but only because I don’t want a severed head thrown at me.”

Rather than make some kind of grand entrance, the individual in question simply walked into the girls’ point of view. She was… unmistakably a youkai, given the odd purple strands surrounding her and the orb near where her heart would be. The green hair and dress with a mustard yellow shirt was certainly a choice, fashion-wise, but that was hardly the issue here. The real issue was why this random girl was interrupting their date with quips to begin with.

“I just wanted to say hi, there’s no need for threats of violence.”

“T-this was meant to be private.” Kogasa’s voice broke into a stutter. “You can’t just interrupt people while they’re on dates like this.”

“Oh.” The green-haired woman paused. Despite it seeming like this would be where she would think about what was going on, both the others noticed that her stare seemed awfully vacant. Almost as if she wasn’t thinking at all. “Sorry! I’ve been bored. Nothing interesting’s been going on at that old temple, so I’m just walking around until I find something interesting.”

“...the old temple? Kogasa, do you know who this is?”

This prompted Kogasa to try and remember if, or when, she had met this girl before. She did frequent the Myouren Temple in an effort to surprise visitors, but she didn’t really pay attention to who was there and when. Still, something about this girl seemed familiar, like she saw her once or twice, maybe even had a conversation with her. Even with that though, she couldn’t really place it. She somehow both stood out and didn’t at the same time.

“...to tell the truth, Banki, if I have met her, then I can’t remember where, or when.”

“Oh jeez, you don’t remember? That’s okay, people forget me all the time, and that’s okay with me.” The girl stopped and tipped her hat. “I’m Koishi Komeiji. I’m a satori, but I’m sure you knew that already. Don’t worry, I won’t read your mind, I closed my eye so I can’t do that anymore.”

“O-oh, you’re a satori. Okay, uh, what a relief about the mind thing,” Kogasa chimed, adding an awkward laugh for a bit of levity. She then gave her trademark face, a wink with her tongue sticking out.

“I’m Kogasa Tatara, a karakasa-obake, but you can just call me an umbrella.”

“...Sekibanki. Just Sekibanki.” The redheaded youkai crossed her arms and huffed. “Rokurokubi, dullahan, whatever you want to call me… still a youkai.”

“Nice to meet you both! I’m sorry for interrupting your date again, but before I get going, can I ask you two a question?”

Oh great, she wanted to ask a question before she left. This at least implied that she was leaving soon, right? That very possibility seemed to make Sekibanki feel some sort of relief. Just please, finally, let them have some proper privacy.

“Ask away then,” Sekibanki promptly said.

“How come you’re so obsessed with making this so private? It’s Gensokyo, I doubt anyone’s going to bat an eye at two ladies going on a date, right?”

That question was enough to give the couple pause. They both knew the answer to that in the back of their mind, but it was largely a slow race - maybe even an anti-race - to see who would answer first. Ultimately it would be Kogasa who finally spoke up.

“I-it’s actually… Banki’s preference. W-would you like me to elaborate on that for you, dear, or…”

“I can explain it.” Sekibanki took a sip of tea, then crossed her arms and sighed. “It’s simple, really. I don’t want humans knowing that I’m going on a date with a youkai.”

“I mean,” Koishi interrupted, tilting her head, “it’s kind of obvious you’re a youkai, though. You still have your other heads floating around you.”

Sekibanki looked to her side and saw that Koishi was right on the money. Not only did she have two heads floating about minding their own business, but she was still holding one like a projectile. She sighed.

“Well, I don’t usually go around the Human Village with my heads around. My entire thing is living incognito, gathering information on the goings on inside that village, maybe using a head to scare people on occasion. If I blow my cover, no one would be willing to associate with me. And how am I supposed to work when no one is willing to give me information?”

“Oh! So you’re insecure about your social status! That’s okay, a lot of people are like that!” Koishi gave her a smile, even as she occasionally glanced at the basket of food. “Isn’t out here pretty hard to notice, though? Are you just that paranoid that someone will catch you?”

Sekibanki did not answer. Even as Kogasa gave her a knowing look, she remained silent for a good few minutes. So what if this random girl was right? She didn’t want to admit it! Despite that, she found that she was nodding her head anyway. It definitely wasn’t Koishi forcing it, just her stupid conscience working on its own.

“F-fine, fine. I am.” Sekibanki’s voice had an unusual level of snappiness to it. “I am worried about it. And I’m tired of complaining about it all the time, it makes me feel so dang entitled. So there, I’m being honest. You happy?“

“Well, I don't feel emotions really, so you’re asking the wrong person.” Koishi then turned to face Kogasa, who had been largely silent for the past several minutes. “Are you happy?”

“W-what? No, no I’m not happy to hear that. Why would I be happy that Banki’s upset?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you two should talk about it.” Koishi shrugged as she reached into the picnic basket and grabbed a sandwich. “Ooh, Western style food. For looking so old fashioned, you sure do have modern taste, miss umbrella!”

“W-wait, that’s not yours-”

“Thanks for the food, bye!”

“Hold on, get back here with that…!”

Despite both of their efforts, neither Kogasa nor Sekibanki could stop Koishi from escaping with the sandwich. After all, it seemed she had simply disappeared from thin air in the moments in between blinks. The only evidence that she had even been there was the fact that there was a missing sandwich to begin with. The group gave each other glances, deeply puzzled.

“Did… did that girl just show up to take our food?” Kogasa asked, tilting her head.

“...I think so,” Sekibanki admitted. Crossing her arms, she knelt back down onto the blanket. “Can we go ahead and eat what we have now? I’m starving.”

“S-sure, but uh…” Kogasa’s voice stammered as she sat down, sticking her umbrella back into the blanket. “Can we talk about what you said? And… perhaps I can offer my apologies?”

“...what is there to apologize for?” Sekibanki huffed, her mouth covered by her long collar. “I’m the one who was freaking out. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“N-no, I… I was the one who pushed this place. I really should have listened to you and looked for somewhere further out. I’m… I’m sorry for pushing you to do this. And for not taking your concerns seriously, especially. I shouldn’t have just called you a complainer like that.”

“...Kogasa, I…”

Both remained silent for a good minute, struggling to figure out how to proceed with the conversation. They both felt like there were things to be said, but none were quite sure what exactly those things were. It took a bit of action by Sekibanki to resume the talk, in the form of a hug. Even as she got uncharacteristically teary-eyed, her body language remained as cool as ever.

“Don’t get mad at yourself. Seriously, you don’t need that for yourself. I absolutely forgive you for the complaining comments, but don’t act like I’m blameless. I was overly concerned and whiny, I just didn’t want to admit it.”

“Banki…” Kogasa eventually broke from the hug and placed her hands on her lap, staring at the basket next to her. “I guess we… kinda screwed up this date both ways, huh…”

“...I mean, have we really started? Neither of us have even gotten to eat yet. Even if there’s… one less sandwich. You did pack an even number, right?”

“W-well, you’re right, I did only put an even number of sandwiches in the basket… but…”

“...but what?”

Kogasa then opened her eyes, before suddenly reaching up into her umbrella. Banki looked on, puzzled, until Kogasa eventually retrieved something that was stuck to the underside. There, she held a small item wrapped in paper, which she refused to hesitate in opening; as it turned out, it was another sandwich, which she held up with grandiosity. The fact that she’d managed to hide it so well and Banki didn’t notice clearly had the latter stunned.

“Behold, an extra one! I hope that surprised you!”

“The heck?” Banki blinked a few times. “Sure that surprised me. You had an extra? What were you planning to do with that extra?”

“Well, I was going to end with it, actually,” Kogasa explained. “We were going to split it in half, it was gonna be cute and everything. Shame what happened with the one that got stolen though.”

“Yeah, oh well. At least we got-”

Banki flinched when something suddenly hit her in the face, nearly knocking her head off of her neck. Kogasa gasped when the other girl came close to falling over.

“B-Banki, are you alright!?”

“Y-yes, I’m fine, but what the heck was that?”

The pair then looked to see where the object had landed. It was… it was another sandwich, landing perfectly on the blanket. There wasn’t a single bite on it, and upon lifting up each part, there was no obvious evidence of tampering. In fact, it looked exactly like the ones she had packed.

“Wait, is this… is this the one that girl stole?” Both girls looked around to see if they could find the original sandwich thief. Alas, they both struggled in the endeavor. No green hair, no yellow clothes, no hat, it was truly as if she had never been there. Deciding that it wasn’t worthwhile to try and continue the search, they settled back down and decided to begin eating proper.

“...I can’t believe I was planning to surprise someone with a sandwich,” Kogasa mused, “and then I wound up being outdone anyway.”

“There’s only so many ways to surprise someone with a sandwich,” Sekibanki said with a sigh as she took a bite, “and sorry to say, but the taste isn’t a surprise either. It’s great as always.”

“Ah well, I’ll take ‘great’. Let’s just enjoy our lunch already.”

And so the pair finally began their date in earnest. The remainder of the day proved far less eventful than that beginning, to both of their relief; sandwiches were eaten, the last one was split, and not a single other person interrupted them. Still, neither could say they weren’t at least glad they met that oddball, Koishi or something. Thief that she was, at least she helped facilitate a serious conversation between the two of them. They could most definitely be thankful for that. https://archiveofourown.org/works/43840969

#touhou #touhousecretsanta #axcicos #kogasa tatara #sekibanki #koishi komeiji #kogabanki #slash #story #ao3

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